Merlin But Gay
by ukeepmealive
Summary: The story of Merlin retold from the beginning but gay af.
1. Chapter 1

He got the first glimpse of it through the bare trees. Camelot in all its glory. As he entered the city he marveled at the busy bustling people. Merlin had come from a small farming town in Ealdor. In his bag he had his few belonging he could carry to start his new life. Merlin's mother had written a letter. He wasn't quite sure what the letter entailed, but it was for the man he was supposed to stay with.

His face fell when he heard the beating of the drums. He saw two guards drag out a man. It was an execution.

"Let this serve as a lesson to all. This man Thomas James Collins is adjudged guilty of conspiring to use enchantments and magic." The King spoke, his voice booming around the courtyard.

Merlin's blood ran cold. He was told of the terrible things that Uther Pendragon has done to anyone with magic. They were hunted down and killed, even women and children. He showed no mercy. However, Merlin hadn't anticipated on seeing a man beheaded within the first few moments of arriving. It could be him on that chopping block, and he knew it.

No, Merlin had never practiced sorcery, he didn't know any spells, but none the less, magic flowed through his veins. He was born with it. A glow in his eye and he could bend objects to his will. Only one person other than his mother knew Merlin's secret. His friend Will had found out about a year prior. It had gone down smooth, for the boys were closer than they ought to be. As if one secret that could get him killed wasn't enough. When Merlin's mother found out, she feared for her son's safety and sent him on his way to someone she hoped would help him to control the magic inside of him. His name was Gaius and he served as the court physician in Camelot, he was an old friend of Merlin's father, whom merlin had never met.

As Uther declared a feast to celebrate the now twenty-year-old ban on magic, a high-pitched moan of sorrow came from within the crowd. Everyone near the old woman that let out these screeches had stepped back. As the woman sobbed for her son, she cursed at the king and even threatened the life of the Prince. "An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a son for a son." She had managed to yell before Uther gave the order to seize her. She mumbled a spell and to many people's amazement, her body disappeared in a storm of dust. As soon as she was gone, the crowd dispersed. Merlin, still shaken up, set off to find Gaius.

He opened a great wood door to find an old man on a high balcony. As Merlin called out the physician fell backwards from the ledge, the railing breaking. Before Merlin could think about what he was doing, the bed was already flying across the room to cushion the old man's fall.

"What did you just do?" he said hauling himself off the bed covered in the debris from the broken railing.

Merlin's heart nearly stopped as he fumbled out "Well, I – I have no idea what happened." Merlin tried to argue, but clearly Gaius already knew. Relief flooded over Merlin as Gaius' main problem with the events that had just taken place was that somebody could have seen.

* * *

Merlin sat on his new bed after settling in. He had never had a bed before. He scans the room and his eyes rest on a window. He crosses the room and opens it. What he saw was breath taking. The full moon just over the horizon. The warm light coming from the homes and the accompanying smoke from their chimneys was more than enough to make him feel at home. The city was gorgeous Merlin had never seen anything like it.

* * *

Merlin had just finished running errands for Gaius. He walked outside the castle gates and stopped to watch a few men in small amounts of armor doing what he could only assume was target practice. With them was a small boy who couldn't have been older than Merlin himself. He observed as the boy raised a wooden target that only covered about half of his body. The boy had started to move around while a strongly build blond man threw a knife directly at the target. The boy was obviously caught off guard. He raised the target again as the men continued to throw knives at him, the boy protesting.

Merlin noticed the scared look on the boy's face and decided to step in. "Hey. Come on, that's enough." He said to the men.

The beautiful man in front of him looked him deep in the eyes with what appeared to be fury. "Do I know you?" he asked stepping towards Merlin. They exchanged some words before Merlin made the mistake of calling him an ass. Arthur stepped closer threatening him, egging him on. Merlin swung his fist towards the man, but he never had a chance of making contact with the large man's face. He twisted Merlin's arm around and held onto him. "I'll have you thrown in jail for this." He threatened.

Merlin in his usually snarky tone replied "Who do you think you are? The king?"

"No, I'm his son, Arthur." He hissed into Merlin's ear.

* * *

Merlin was dragged through the castle, down a long flight of stairs and thrown into a cell by two guards. It was his first day in the city and he had already insulted one of the most powerful men in the Kingdom and gotten himself thrown in jail. He sat on the ground, feeling like a fool. How can someone be such a pompous ass?

* * *

Light drifted through the cell window and Merlin awoke to someone calling his name. He looked around, but there was no one in sight. He leaned down on his hands and knees and pressed his ear to the floor. Just then he was interrupted as he heard his name being called again, but this time it was from his new guardian. He got up and turned around, ready for Gaius to chew him out. He was allowed to leave under one condition, a few hours in the stocks getting pelted by spoiled food.


	2. Chapter 2

Arthur's anger turned into amusement as soon as the lanky boy in front of him swung his fist. As soon as they made contact a shiver was sent through Arthur's body. He felt as if he and the boy were meant to meet. To keep up appearances, Arthur had the boy arrested. He had no intent of keeping him in jail for more than the night. He was impressed that such a small figure had such a big voice. Standing up to someone larger than you is very noble, especially if said person was a little hot tempered and foolish at times. He thought of the look Merlin had given him and then remembered how blue his eyes were. Arthur spent the rest of his day trying to think of other things.

It wasn't long before the two had run into each other again. Arthur calling out to him as he walked by. Merlin turned around with the most furious yet cutest expression on his face Arthur had seen from anyone, not even Morgana. He immediately tried to spew insults and the prince, but he just smiled. Merlin tore off his jacket and Arthur couldn't help but laugh and the small, furious Merlin. He threw a spiked ball and chain into the boy's arms. "Here you go, big man." Arthur teased. Merlin predictably fumbled and dropped the weapon.

Arthur came towards Merlin swinging his own weapon above his head. "I warn you; I've been trained to kill since birth."

Merlin opened his big mouth and without missing a beat he said, "Wow, and how long have you been training to be a prat?"

Arthur had to stop himself from laughing. "You can't address me like that."

"Sorry. How long have you been training to be a prat, my lord?" Merlin let out a cheeky smile and Arthur swung at his head. Thankfully Merlin had ducked and was now expertly dodging Arthur's blows. The foolish boy had gotten his weapon stuck in a hanging basket and was now left defenseless, or so Arthur thought.

Arthur was ready to swing again when he saw a flash of gold in Merlin's eyes. He knew immediately. This boy was a sorcerer. Arthur's own weapon was now stuck on some hanging hooks. Arthur thought about alerting everyone to the magic tricks his opponent was using, but decided he wasn't done having fun. Besides, what harm can this twink do? Soon enough Arthur was on the ground while onlookers laughed. Merlin, who thought he had won, turned his back on the prince and that's when he made his move.

The guards grabbed him by the shoulders, but Arthur was quick to intervene. "He may be an idiot, but he's a brave one." Arthur said studying the boy's pouty face. "There's something about you, Merlin. I can't quite put my finger on it." And with that he walked away.

* * *

The next time the two met they locked eyes with each other from across the room. Merlin was quick to look away. He was still shaken from when he had visited The Great Dragon and learned of the prophecy. He was meant to protect the prince, stand by his side. Of course, it was Merlin's luck that he was made to protect such a prick. He was beautiful, that Merlin could not deny, but he was so rude.

The Lady Morgana had walked into the room, and many stopped and stared. She was without a doubt beautiful, even Merlin can admit that. Gaius turned to him "Remember, you're here to work." He said, noticing Merlin's gaze.

Merlin just let out a huff of amusement and whispered to himself "That's not going to be a problem."

The Lady Helen started to sing and before Merlin knew it everyone was falling asleep, obviously the work of magic. He quickly covered his ears so the spell would not affect him. He watched as she walked towards the royal family. She pulled out a plain looking dagger, and thinking fast Merlin made the candelabra fall onto the woman. As soon as her singing stopped, everyone started to wake up. Instead of the Lady, there was an old woman in her place, under all the metal. Merlin quickly recognized her as the grieving mother from the other day. She threw her dagger at the prince and Merlin without thinking pulled Arthur out of his chair. The dagger pierced the chair behind where the Prince's chest was moments before. With a groan the old woman was dead.

Merlin stood up and dusted off his pants when he realized what was happening. The King walked towards him "You saved my boy's life. A debt must be repaid." Merlin opened his mouth to protest but wasn't given the chance. "You shall be awarded with a position in the royal household. You shall be Prince Arthur's manservant." He declared before walking away.

* * *

One moment Arthur was sitting in his chair, drinking wine, and listening to the enchanting voice of The Lady Helen. The next there was an old woman on the ground throwing a knife at him. He knew he had no time to move, and thought he was a goner for sure. He suddenly felt hands grip him and pull him onto the floor. He looked under him and there was Merlin, the rebellious fool. Arthur had actually thought he was quite brave, smack talking a prince. He stared down at the boy under him for a few seconds too long before Merlin moved, bringing him back to reality. He quickly hopped off him and they both rose to their feet. Merlin had just saved his life.


	3. Chapter 3

Merlin sat on a chair by the fire in the Prince's chambers. The first few days had been rough. Merlin not only had to put up with Arthur's relentless teasing, but also perform basically every task for him. He was tired after a long day of waiting after Arthur. He was polishing his boots while Arthur sat at his desk.

Arthur stood up abruptly and crossed the room, sitting in the chair facing Merlin. He sat down and began to read quietly. Every so often Merlin swears he sees Arthur staring at him but when he looks up, the Prince looks down. He chalked it up to his imagination, after all why would a Prince look at a serving boy like that.

"I am to ride out at dawn with a few of my knights, I would like you to come with us." Arthur said putting down his book, finally breaking the silence between them. "One of the small outlying villages has been seized by bandits." Merlin looked up at him. The prince scratched his head and mumbled "I mean you don't have to come, and I totally understand if you don't want to."

"No," Merlin cut in, "I want to come." Arthur smiled softly and returned to his book.

* * *

They had been riding all day when the sun started to go down, and Arthur announced that they would stop and make camp for the night. There was a river a couple minutes of walking from the camp, which was now lit up by the fire and filled with the laughs of jolly knights who had a few to many. Merlin was tasked to fill all the waterskins, seven in all, and Arthur had followed him after a few minutes to see if he needed help carrying them back.

"I can carry them myself, Sire. You really didn't need to go out of your way." Merlin said wondering why the Prince had come.

"Nonsense Merlin, I just wanted to make sure you didn't drop mine." Arthur said smirking at him as the two filled all the bags.

"What like this?" he asked dropping one into the water close enough to Arthur's face to splash his face.

"How dare you!" Arthur roared before splashing Merlin with ten times more water. Merlin tensed until he saw the Prince's smiling face as he tried to hide it with his hands.

"Nice one, Sire." He said before standing up holding four of the water skins. Arthur quickly followed with the other three in tow.

"Oi what happened to you lot?" one of the knights said seeing the state of the Prince and his manservant's wet hair.

"Did you fall in?" piped another.

"Shut up!" Arthur growled and nudged Merlin with his elbow playfully. "It seems rank doesn't matter to Merlin here, everyone's fair game for his childish pranks."

* * *

The fire died down until it was only embers. All the knights were snoring, even Sir Cow who was sitting against a tree 'keeping watch.' However, Arthur was very much awake. He was too busy staring at the face of the man that lay a mere few feet from him. His chest rose up and down as he breathed steadily, in a deep sleep.

Arthur yearned to wake him, running his finger along his lip, staring into his deep blue eyes before planting a deep passionate kiss on those lips he thought of so much. Merlin turned over in his sleep much to Arthur's dismay, so he was forced to close his eyes to get a little bit of sleep before they would have to get moving.

* * *

_A/N: This is the first fan fiction I've written since middle school and I am definitely not taking this seriously because that would be extremely embarrassing. Anyways, I'm not going to stick to the script the whole time because that would be boring. If you don't like it, you don't have to read it. Also to all the thirsty underage straight girls reading this, stop fetishizing gay/bi men. Thank._


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